


Penance

by Emerald Embers (emeraldembers)



Category: Legion (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-31
Updated: 2010-03-31
Packaged: 2017-10-08 13:48:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/76271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldembers/pseuds/Emerald%20Embers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The dogs of Heaven are well trained.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penance

Michael had not come to gloat. His victory had been hard earned, and Gabriel did not deserve punishment. He was the doting brother in the prodigal son; had done only as commanded and asked nothing in return. Michael had gone against their wishes and returned to open arms and a loving bosom.

Gabriel had been quiet at first but Michael did not listen to the silence between them; Gabriel's expression spoke words enough and he had waited a long time to press kisses to eyelids heavy with the weight of the world. "Do not suffer on my account, brother."

"You said 'enough', and I did not listen."

"Others will say 'enough' before it is due," Michael reminded, kneeling before his brother and helping to open the fastenings of pierced and bloodstained armour, a mark of guilt Gabriel ought not to carry. "You are still our strength. Do not doubt yourself."

Gabriel's physique was proof of that, shaped by God to be perfectly suited for his purpose, and Michael allowed himself to grip onto shoulders, biceps, forearms as he bared each in turn. "I should have seen."

"Our Father did not, but you do not question Him." Michael sat back for a moment to grip his own robes, drawing them up over his head and stilling only when Gabriel reached for him.

It was a relief to let Gabriel wrestle him to the floor, his brother's hands alternately too demanding and too gentle, ill at ease with the concept of asking; of letting himself _want_. Michael had called him eager to please, but it was more a question of being eager to _obey_ \- Gabriel did not seek credit, but command.

"Take what you need," Michael ordered, letting his legs slip open as Gabriel pressed his weight between them.

"I do not know how to want," Gabriel said, each breath ending on something like a shiver.

"Then learn with me."

.

All the centuries of observation meant nothing against the experience, because as much as angels ought not to have a sense of vanity, Michael could not help being aware of the difference between human beauty and angelic beauty. Humans reshaped themselves throughout life, growing and dieting and binging and exercising and piercing and scarring and aging, were new creatures with every passing day. Gabriel had always been this way, and would always be, and for all that Michael knew every inch of his brother's face, the set of his jaw and softness of his lips, the crease of concern in a brow meant to wear no expression, it did not change that he wanted to learn again by touch and by taste.

Where he kissed and stroked to explore, Gabriel chose to grip and possess, becoming enamoured by turn with Michael's elbows and shoulders, the small of his back and the curve into thighs, but the combination of one choosing to grip and another choosing to stroke worked out well enough when the touching and tasting escalated.

Michael arched under Gabriel, recognising the new sensations for what they were, soothing and distracting his brother with kisses that moved between soft, wet, inviting things and borderline cruel nips and bites, sliding his free hand into dark hair, wrist lightly grazed by the collar Gabriel still wore proud around his neck. He knew everything in Gabriel and few moments passed before he realised his brother was tensing up for a reason, holding back and forgetting, again, he was _allowed_ this, allowed to give in to what he wanted here, if only for a short time.

"Let go," Michael urged, tightening his own grip to something stronger than gentle strokes and teasing fingers, lowering his head a little to bite at Gabriel's neck on seeing the request for privacy in Gabriel's eyes. This much was new, left any honest angel of Gabriel's ilk naked in expression, and to look away was only polite; the truth of it told in the ragged sounds drawn out of Gabriel's throat and the hot, wet pulse across Michael's hand.

Gabriel made little protest when Michael flipped them over so he was no longer caught under the weight of his sated and exhausted brother, and so that he might find his own release without either arm being trapped, but even after all this that glimmer of concern still had not faded.

Michael returned his clean hand to Gabriel's face, stroked his thumb across lips that parted slack to let him in, and pressed a last kiss for now to the skin of a jaw that had never known stubble. "I forgave you before I died, and I demand that you forgive yourself."

Gabriel had always been eager to obey.


End file.
